Investigation of high-speed badminton racket kinematics by motion capture

Abstract

The kinematics of a badminton racket during a smash stroke was observed in this study with the purpose of investigating stroke dynamics and racket behaviour. Motion capture measurements of the racket during several smash strokes performed by three players of different skill levels indicated a clear increase in racket velocity at impact with increasing skill level. Variations between translational and rotational contributions to the impact speed could also be seen between the players. The advanced player produced a much higher peak angular velocity and also relied much less on translation, with a translational velocity of only 8% of the total velocity versus the 20% for the recreational player. It is proposed that, as an alternative to shuttlecock speeds, racket head speed measurements can be used as an indicator of performance, and can also provide some insight into the interaction between the racket and player.

Shuttlecock velocity during a smash stroke in badminton evolves linearly with skill level

“…(4) Lastly, the mechanism of the racket deflection influences the terminal velocity of the shuttlecock (Kwan et al 2010). …”

Badminton Stroke Recognition Based on Body Sensor Networks

“…Kwan, Andersen, Cheng, Tang, and Rasmussen [8] use a motion capture system to measure motion signals of a badminton racket, and the system is used to assess the performance of players in different skill levels. Jainter and Gawin [9] utilize three sensor nodes placed on the right upper arm, right lower arm, and racket to explore the relativities among racket speed, shuttle ball speed, and arm speed when a badminton smash is performed.…”

Understanding and evaluation of badminton shuttlecocks through flight dynamics and experimental approach

“…The processed results are presented in Table 20. Values generally agreed with the past works that were done for motion capture of badminton racket smash stroke, as seen in [110,111]. Literatures have shown that top players are capable of using the elastic deflection of badminton racket to achieve a higher tip speed [112][113][114].…”